Disney Seeks Minority Firms for O.C. Resort : Development: Company sets an ‘aggressive’ 15% goal in awarding contracts for $3-billion Anaheim project.

Walt Disney Co. plans to target minority-owned businesses for up to $450 million of labor and materials for its proposed $3-billion expansion project near Disneyland--expected to be one of the Southland’s largest construction projects in the 1990s.

The entertainment conglomerate has set what it calls an “aggressive” target to award 15% of the contracts for a 470-acre expansion of its original Anaheim theme park to minority businesses.

The issue of minority contracting has gained much attention in the wake of the Los Angeles riots. Some minority-owned companies in Los Angeles have said that they should be allowed to take a larger role in the efforts to rebuild riot-damaged businesses. The cost of rebuilding has been estimated at more than $750 million.

The proposed Disneyland Resort “represents one of the largest opportunities for minority business enterprises in Southern California,” said Kerry Hunnewell, project director. The company’s project would include a world’s fair-type attraction, including three new hotels and dozens of restaurants adjoining Disneyland.

If the program succeeds, Disney’s 15% goal would be in line with a minority contracting requirement being imposed on California utility companies by next year.

Unlike the utilities, however, the Disney program is strictly voluntary, because it is an unregulated, private company. It is one of a growing number of major corporations that have realized the public relations value of such programs.

It should be especially popular in Anaheim, where minorities make up more than 43% of the population.

“It’s a complement to Disney for taking the initiative,” said City Manager James D. Ruth. “It will certainly help (curb) unemployment.”

Although Disney is not expected to commit to building the expansion before early 1993, the Burbank-based company is already exceeding its minority contracting goals on its first major contract.

The company said that slightly more than 25% of the total value of the contract for a huge 30,000-vehicle parking complex--believed to be one of the nation’s largest--has been divided among three minority subcontractors in Orange County.

Disney expects that percentage to drop as additional contracts are awarded. But, said Malek Ali, Disney’s corporate minority business manager, “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble meeting that (15%) goal.” He said the company uses a directory of 16,000 minority-owned businesses across the country, which includes all kinds of trades and specialties.

Disney estimates its project would generate 48,000 construction jobs in Southern California, including 27,000 in Anaheim, according to a Disney-commissioned economic impact report. Once open, the resort would create 14,000 jobs, which would be in addition to the 12,000 people Disneyland and the Disneyland Hotel now employ during the peak summer months.

The minority-contracting goal, along with new jobs, are powerful incentives that Disney can use as it tries to negotiate government concessions on the project. If public financing is secured, it would reduce Disney’s portion of the $3-billion price tag and, theoretically, also reduce its share of the minority-contracting costs.

But Disney suggests that the selection of three minority-owned subcontractors is just the beginning.

Those companies are: the architectural and design firm of Lee & Sakahara Associates in Costa Mesa; the mechanical engineering firm of Tsuchiyama & Kaino in Irvine; and an electrical engineering company, RWR Pascoe Engineering Inc. in Irvine. The companies will work under the direction of the prime parking structure contractor, Walker Parking Consultants of Kalamazoo, Mich.

Walker Parking has a national reputation for designing “mega-structures,” such as twin 6,500-vehicle garages for the new Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., and the 8,000-space structure at Tampa International Airport in Florida. The company has worked on the Disney project since January through its Costa Mesa branch office, where it employs 16.

But the Disneyland Resort structures would dwarf Walker’s previous projects. Each garage would have a 10,000- to 15,000-car capacity depending on whether Disney eventually elects to build two or three garages. Together, they would hold 30,000 vehicles, the largest parking complex ever constructed.

“We are the ones with the most experience on mega-projects,” said B.J. Meder, a Walker vice president and project director of the Disneyland job. Though their firm is not minority-owned, Walker officials said they place a high degree of importance on hiring minority companies as subcontractors.

“In general, we always try to have minority business enterprises no matter who we work for,” said Sam Bhuyan, Walker’s office manager in Costa Mesa.

Ron Sakahara, who started Lee & Sakahara Associates 13 years ago with partner Doug Lee, said the Disneyland Resort project “is our first experience (with Disney), and we are absolutely excited and pleased about doing work for them.”

Having designed hundreds of restaurants--including many units of the El Torito chain--hotels and industrial parks, Sakahara said his firm is clearly qualified.

“We are a very good firm and have competed with many of the major firms in (non-minority business) programs and come out winners,” he said.

Disney has the option of canceling its initial contract for designing the parking structures if it decides against building the Disneyland Resort. In that case, the contractors would be paid for work already completed.

Increasingly, government requirements and public pressure are creating new opportunities for minority-owned business. Utility companies, for instance, are rushing to meet the new state Public Utility Commission rules that take effect in 1993. Pacific Bell reports already having 11.3% minority-owned vendors and expects to reach 13% this year, according to a spokeswoman.

The minority-contracting goal on the $877-million Los Angeles-to-Long Beach light rail line--the Blue Line--was 23%. The goal was exceeded with a total of 26%, said a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.

A 20% goal was set on the $1.4-billion first segment of the Los Angeles subway--the Red Line--which is so far running at 24% minority participation.

For Disney, the 15% minority contracting goal “just seemed to us like a relatively aggressive but achievable target,” said Hunnewell, who is also a vice president for the Disney Development Co.

Disney has already received praise for including minority-owned firms in its planning.

“Disney does a good job. In general, they are fairly good corporate citizens across the board,” said Hollis Smith, president of the Southern California Purchasing Council, a Los Angeles group that brings buyers and minority-owned vendors together.

Smith said the 15% figure has become pretty much an industry standard since being endorsed by the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates utilities that often undertake large construction contracts.

He lauded Disney for hiring minority firms in the conceptual stages of the resort.

“Most people, when you talk to them, say: ‘Our doors are open.’ Here is something with substance, something that’s meaningful,” he said. The resort means “a lot of jobs for a lot of people.”

By targeting a specific percentage for minority contracts, Disney is encouraging more minority-owned firms to participate, said Harriet Michel, president of the National Minority Suppliers and Developers Council in New York.

“The consumer-based companies are very good because they understand their new customers will be . . . increasingly black and brown,” Michel said.

As for Disney, she said she hopes the new Anaheim project will set a standard for major corporations developing major projects.

“Whatever happens,” she said, “we would like to see it become a model.”

Times staff writer Cristina Lee contributed to this article.